Spitfire PL983 – AAIB Report Published

Fluffy – I thought that aircraft that operated on a C of A or indeed
a Public Transport C of A were liable to a magneto inspection at 500 hrs from memory. Certainly I have sent mags away for overhaul during the course of an annual if they were found to be suspect or likely to run out of hours within the period before next annual. From the perspective of aircraft operating on a Permit to Fly i am not sure but i will check.
Certainly certain aspects of this report are clearly alarming
and need to be addressed rapidly. Many people think that if an aircraft does very few hours in a year the maintainance requirements deminish – it’s the opposite. The number of times I have seen magneto’s go ‘dead’ through sitting in a hanger with no use is frightening .
I hope the lessons are learnt from this accident.

For information, re; magneto checks.

However tragic this accident may be, it has to be brought to people’s attention that civilian operators do not overhaul their magnetos at set periods, they are, what we call, ‘fitted on condition’.

That means that it is up to the individual operator to determine whether and when they should have their magnetos overhauled or not.

Sadly to say, magnetos are not the only items that are treated in this way.

It’s about time the CAA laid down some specific rules and regulations to do with ‘lifing’ of these items and regulate who is allowed to overhaul them.

Thanks for the link Yakrider,it certainly makes for tragic reading. 🙁 I too can’t understand how a magneto problem like that could go undetected,it must have been deteriorating for a long time before the day of the accident.It’s also worrying that the mags weren’t overhauled properly,sounds like somebody cut a corner somewhere.
Having said all this,it still doesn’t change the fact that Martin would probably have lived had the grass runway been clear. I know alot of folks are saying that those people on the runway were responsible,but to my mind keeping the active areas of the airfield clear of people is the job of the crowd marshals,and ultimately the show organisers.I would agree that some form of legal proceedings could be brought against the organisers,but I’d disagree that the spectators themselves were at fault.

I agree with Moggy,that PDF format is flamin’ awkward.Go back to HTML please…:(

Very tragic, but I’m at a loss to see how the faulty mags weren’t noticed. Even a low hours PPL knows how important it is to check for the dead cut on both.

While the mags appear to have been the official primary cause for the accident, I still can’t help thinking that the public on the emergency runway are just as culpable, if not more so. Martin had set himself up for a good approach to 22, and then had to extend his base leg at short notice when it became clear 22 was unusable. A base extension with suspect power is a very risky choice, as this tragic incident demonstrates.

It will be interesting to see what significance the French authorities place on the crowd management aspects of the show, and what sanctions (if any) are imposed upon the organisers. I’d even go so far as to suggest criminal negligence charges might be appropriate.

Tragic, and to some extent inexplicable. 🙁

I hate the new PDF format for the bulletin. Means you have to wade through all sorts of bollox about airliners being dinged by airbridges to get to the hapless PPL blunders.

Moggy